Twisted Turns
by ShadowVixxen
Summary: This is a series loosely based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I've always loved the idea of Wonderland and it's unusual characters but always thought the portrayal of the characters was a little harsh. So, I adjusted my own idea to that of the original. Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

"Nick, where are we going?" Willis, despite his aggravated tone, follows his friend towards the city botanical gardens. Not that Willis didn't like hanging out with Nick, but he'd been chatting up a rather attractive red head back at the party and was anxious to get back to her. Nick doesn't exactly say anything, just mumbles something about them being late as he continues to lead Willis along. But Willis is used to this, Nick Cotton isn't exactly what you'd call "sane."

"Here, right here." Nick stops next to an old, ugly tree that appears to be dying and Willis wonders why it's there in the first place. It's an eye-sore to be honest, and aren't botanical gardens supposed to be beautiful or whatever?

"Nick, are you having another one of your episodes?" Willis crosses his arms and tilts his head, his longer dark blonde hair cascading in front of his blue eyes. Of the two, Nicholas Cotton was the "cute" one: light blonde hair that was almost white, tan brown eyes, and an almost girlish face.

"Willis I told you, I'm fine!" Nick whips around and summer blues meet chocolate browns. They glare at each other for a while before Willis sighs and closes his eyes, uncrossing his arms in defeat. Nick's glare lessens but he stays serious. "Willis, we've been friends for a while now right?"

"Where are you going with this?" He allows just a touch of irritation to penetrate his tone as he looks at his friend. Nick was a fun guy, Willis had known him for years now, but sometimes he went off on a tangent and it was almost like he had some secret he was hiding.

"The more he stalls the later we are," Nick mumbles as he glances down at his watch. "You've heard of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland right?"

Willis nods, humoring him. If there's one thing he's learned about Nick in the years he's known him, it's to just let him rant until he's done.

"Wonderland is real Willis. And…I'm the Messenger; the White Rabbit." Nick meets Willis' eyes again and Willis lets out a bark of laughter.

"Oh Nick, have you finally gone off the deep end?" Willis laughs and looks at him in disbelief. "The White Rabbit? A Messenger? Wonderland? Did someone slip you something at the party?"

"Damnit Willis listen to me!" Nick grabs Willis' arm and drags him towards the tree. Willis looks down at the ground around the tree and notices that it looks unnaturally dark. But Nick just continues towards it without a hitch. "Wonderland is destroying itself and you're the only one who can fix it!"

"Stop." Willis yanks his arm out of Nick's grasp and moves in front of him, his back to the tree. They'd moved around the tree and were standing at the top of the hill where it rested. Willis narrows his eyes at his friend. "Nick, I don't know what's wrong with you but you need to chill out. Wonderland is a place a stoner made up to please a little girl. We don't even have to go back to the party, we can just get in my car and go back to my house."

"He said you wouldn't believe me." Nick looks sad before shaking his head. He looks back up and his eyes meet Willis' in one final challenge. "Well, I'd hoped you would come willingly, but it seems as though I will have to make you believe."

"What are you talking about?"

"See you at the bottom Willis."

Nick takes a step forward and before Willis knows it, Nick pushes him backwards. Where Willis was expecting a hard landing on the ground, and believe he had a retort ready for it, he kept falling. Willis screamed as he fell down the seemingly unending hole, the last thing in his vision before he blacked out was the face of his best friend.

When Willis opened his eyes again, he was laying on the ground outside somewhere. The air smelled of something floral and, as Willis sat up, he recognized the scenery. He was back in the botanical gardens, but it was daytime. Willis looks around with a look of complete bewilderment. He was pretty sure he'd passed out while falling down a hole. In the dark. By that logic, it is not possible for him to be here. Unless he'd been asleep on the ground all night; but that doesn't explain the long fall.

Willis stands up and looks around, feeling like something is off even though everything looks normal. A butterfly floats past him and he smiles, butterflies are normal. Wait, are those bread slices? What the…

"About time you woke up Willis." Nick, normalcy at last. Willis turns towards the voice of his friend, relieved that he's not alone, but freezes. Nick was standing under the tree and the tree was still dead and ugly. And Nick was normal as well…

You know, except for the white rabbit ears on his head. Nick smiles at his friend with a smug grin and folds his arms. Willis feels his mouth drop open and he stares at his friend. Nick seems satisfied with himself as he opens his arms.

"Willis, welcome to Wonderland."


	2. Chapter 2

"Wonderland? Nick this isn't funny. And take those ridiculous ears off, you look like a dork." Willis walks up to his friend and grabs onto one of the ears and yanks on it.

"Ow! It's not a costume you ass," Nick says as he swats Willis' hand away and rubs the sore ear. Nick stands tall and walks past his friend toward the side of a large castle that the garden seems to be an appendage of. "Now let's go. We're late."

"Late for what?" Willis asks, grabbing Nick by the arm and whipping him around. "Tell me what the fuck is going on here."

"It's complicated Willis," Nick says, but he won't meet his eyes. Willis glares at his friend before letting go of his arm and standing firm. "Come on Willis, we're already late as it is, can't I just explain this to you later?"

"You mean to tell me, you brought him all the way here and you didn't bother to tell him anything?" Could this place get any more weird? Disembodied voices. What next? Nick makes a face as Willis spies a pair of orange eyes and a creepy grin appearing up in the tree behind Nick. "Now Nicholas, you're slipping."

"Hello Chester," Nick says, rolling his eyes. Willis is still shocked: so the eyes and grin floating in midair with no body is normal here?! A hissing noise erupts from the grin and a boy appears, the home for the grin and eyes. Dark hair falls over his eyes and a black and blue pair of cats ears and a tail complete the weirdness.

"I told you to call me Chess," he growls as he jumps from the tree and glares at Nick. As Willis looks at the two of them sharing looks of loathing, he notices just how different they look.

Nick, with his formal get up looks more casual Victorian age. Give him a top hat and a monocle and he could easily be taken for an English nobleman. Though, Willis isn't sure when Nick changed his clothes. Chess looks more like a rebellious rock star: spiked leather collar, torn black tank top and baggy ripped jeans. Not to mention the chains hanging all over the place.

"Okay, I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE?" Willis folds his arms as he looks at the other two boys. He'd had just about enough of this bullshit and he was going to get answers.

"Temper, temper." Chess chuckles and points his thumb at Willis. "He could give her a run for her money."

"Shut up Chess. Alright Willis, here's the story." Nick sighs and closes his eyes. "We're in Wonderland right now. In fact, we're in the garden of the Red Queen. This is half of what's left of the original Wonderland."

"Still doesn't explain why I'm here."

"Well you see Willis," Chess says, holding up his hand and grinning. "You know how Alice was here right? Heard all about her story? Yeah, well she fucked everything up. The queens used to be really close, the hatter wasn't such a jerk, and Wonderland used to be as beautiful and lush as this garden."

"Again, still haven't told me why I'm here."

"Willis… When Wonderland took a sudden turn for the worse, I came to your world searching for Alice. Time passes differently here. In your world, Alice came to Wonderland about 150 years ago, but here it's only been about a year and a half. Alice had this… quality about her that made her stand out. You have that same quality." Nick steps towards Willis holding out his hand. "We need you to save our world. You don't have to make a decision now, but we definitely can't get you home without asking the queen for her portal."

"Oh yeah, that'll be a fun conversation." Chess rolls his eyes and his tail curls around his leg. Nick shoots him a look to kill but smiles at Willis. Chess grins at Willis. "This way Willis."

Willis and Nick follow Chess into the large castle. It's lavishly decorated but not gaudily so and Willis finds himself pleasantly surprised. There's no torture tools, no blood everywhere, all of Willis' world had gotten the Red Queen's lair wrong. There were touches of girly things throughout the corridors they walked through and the whole placed smelled like lilac, vanilla, and lilies.

"Let me go in first," Nick says when they finally stop in front of a large door. Nick straightens his coat before knocking on the door and entering the room ahead of the other two. Willis is left standing there with Chess in an awkward silence when Chess begins to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Willis asks as he wanders around the hall to look at the décor. Chess' tail twitches as he continues to look at the door with a sly grin.

"Nicholas is loyal to the Red Queen," he says simply. "The twins are loyal to the Hatter, the White Queen lives alone with her animals. I just wonder who you will be loyal to."

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm loyal to no one but myself." Chess looks serious for a moment before the large door opens again and Nick smiles out at the other boys.

"The Queen is ready to see you."


	3. Chapter 3

For some reason, Willis was only slightly nervous about meeting the Red Queen. After all, how terrifying could she really be if her castle smells like flowers and vanilla?

Willis follows Nick into the large audience chamber, Chess trailing behind almost reluctantly, and right up to the base of the throne. Willis hadn't really been paying attention so when the fanfare blasted in his ears he nearly jumped six feet out of his skin.

"All hail the Queen."

Nick and Chess kneel and Willis looks at the both of them before looking forward and being instantly struck by the queen. She was beautiful: almost obnoxiously long cherry red hair that curls slightly around her womanly form. She had a gold and red crown on her head and she seemed to look through him with her intense green gaze that was just touched by fatigue. She was the most intimidating and sexy woman he'd ever seen in his life.

"Who is this you bring before me Nicholas?" she says. God even her voice is hot, commanding and still sweet. "And why does he not kneel before his queen?"

"Willis isn't from around here Ariel," Nick says as he stands and attempts to shake Willis from his intense gawking. "Willis, this is Ariel the Red Queen of Wonderland."

Willis mutters something that sounds like a greeting as he continues to stare at her. Ariel gives him a look and stands, her red and white fur cape falling down over her black skinny jeans and red one shouldered top. Wait, where'd she get skinny jeans?

"Stop staring freak," she says, pointing at him with her gold scepter before rolling her eyes. "Do you honestly think that I, the queen, have never ventured into your world? I am the only one with a portal there and the portals in your world all end up in my garden."

"I'm sorry I just…didn't expect it." Willis forces himself to snap out of his trance and attempts a smile at her. "I'm Willis Hughes, but you can call me Will."

"Right?" She rolls her eyes again before walking right up to him and getting very close to his face. Again, Willis finds himself being analyzed and rated by her eyes. She makes a weird face at him but doesn't move away. "Your eyes show fear. I suppose you are intimidated by me?"

"Well, you're not exactly what I was expecting. In my world, the Red Queen is usually depicted as an angry, bloodthirsty tyrant."

This comment must have pissed her off because she just explodes on him. "Tyrant?! Tyrant indeed! Your world… Let me tell you something about your world. Your world is filled to the brim with fear, hate, war, and prejudice. Wonderland may be fractured and dying but at least its inhabitants are accepting. What has happened here still has a chance to be undone, Wonderland can still be saved, but your world is beyond repair." Ariel steps back from him with a disgusted look on her face. "Tyrant. If your world's definition of "tyrant" is a leader who hasn't slept in days, weeks, because her world is dying and there are only a few options left to help save it from total destruction then I guess I must be." Ariel's eyes fill with tears but she turns around before any tears slide down her cheeks. She keeps her head tall but doesn't turn around. "I don't know what you were thinking bringing this Outsider here, but it's clear that he understands nothing." Her voice cracks slightly and her hand goes to her chest. "Please, leave me. He may stay the night but I want him gone tomorrow."

Before Willis has a chance to apologize, or even say anything in fact, the other two boys have whisked him away and the audience room, and the queen, are nothing but a memory. Nick pulls them into what appears to be an extra suite in the castle and locks the door as Chess throws Willis into a chair.

"Could you be any more insensitive?!" Nick asks, rounding on his friend and flailing his arms like a crazy person. "You may have just ruined the last chance Wonderland had for salvation."

"Seriously, I don't even like Ariel and I'm not that mean to her." Chess shakes his head and closes his eyes before folding his arms and walking away from the other two towards the window. "I mean, I think she's kind of a bitch but she's fair and has always been a just and kind ruler."

"What do you mean last chance?" Willis looks at Nick as he stops thumping his head against the wall and looks at him.

"Remember the caterpillar?"

"The one who was constantly stoned?"

"Yeah, that one. Well, she knows everything that happens in Wonderland: past, present, and future. Well, when she's not totally stoned… Anyway, during one of her moments of clarity she foretold this happening and told us how to fix this bullshit." Nick looks over at Chess who just makes a scoffing noise and mumbles something about someone named Cole being a crazy bitch. "We need your help to figure out what Alice did to make the queens hate each other, reunite the White Queen with the Hatter, and…"

"And…?" Willis falls back in his chair and balls his hands into fists. He's made girls feel amazing, he'd made a few cry, hell, he'd even earned a few deserved slaps from them, but the deep, obvious hurt in Ariel's eyes had shaken him. He was used to girls hiding their feelings and making him guess. He wasn't used to blunt emotion like that and he wanted to make things right.

"And…Ariel has to fall in love with you Willis…"


	4. Chapter 4

Willis hasn't been able to even think about sleep since his conversation with Nick. Ariel has to fall in love with him? Yeah, that's gonna be easy. She hates him. And why does it have to be _him_ anyway?

Willis turns over in his bed and sighs. He admits he's attracted to the beautifully commanding queen, something about her just pulls him in. He can't believe he's even buying into this whole thing, but there's just too much going on for him to continue telling himself that this is all a dream.

Finally, completely giving up on sleep for the night, he gets out of bed and goes out into the hallway. He just wanders for a while and finds himself into the, surprisingly modern, kitchens of the castle. Walking in, he expects to be alone, but he finds Ariel sitting on the counter with a book and a bowl of ice cream. She's wearing black pajama shorts and a baby blue tank top. Her hair is pulled into low pigtails with ribbons that match her tank top. She looks up as he walks in and levels a steely glare at him. "What do you want?"

"Couldn't sleep." Willis shrugs. He really wanted her to not hate him. He just wasn't really good with words like that despite the charm he knew he had. He absently rubs the back of his head and tries a smile. "What about you?"

"So you don't listen either." Ariel rolls her bright green hues and takes a bite of her ice cream before pointing her spoon at him. "Clearly you don't use that head of yours. Maybe I should just have it taken off your shoulders for you."

Ah, something normal. A threat of beheading. Feeling weirdly more comfortable now, Willis moves towards her and reads the title of her book. "Twilight? Really? You can't be serious."

"Don't even go there with me Outsider." Despite Ariel's threatening tone, a light blush paints her cheeks and she places a mark in her book and closes it. "I can read whatever I want."

"It's cute of you to fold into society's pressures." The comment just comes out of his mouth without any thought and he glances at her to see the reaction.

Ariel appears to be still processing his comment. Almost like she can't believe he really said it. Then, when it finally hit her that he said she was cute, round-about way or not, she goes on the defensive despite her lingering blush.

"I fold to no one," she says as she hops off the counter, snatching her ice cream bowl, and sticking her spoon in. "I will have you know in your world I influence societies "pressures" as you call them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Lewis was also confused when I showed up at his door one evening." Ariel smiles cunningly and pulls her pigtails forward over her shoulders. Willis glances down and notices that the ends of her pigtails reach about an inch past her waist. He smiles at the not exactly pure thought that rolls through his head before snapping his eyes back to hers. Ariel doesn't seem to have noticed his wandering blue orbs so she just continues. "You see, Lewis had listened to the young Alice's story and wrote it all down, changing things around for a "better story." He's never been here himself. I'm sure you can imagine how contrite he was. He offered me a large sum of money and I took it. It's been sitting in a bank for years and I am, by your world's standards, a trillionaire."

Willis nods at her and folds his arms as he continues to listen.

"And money influences everything in your world." Ariel scoops a bite of ice cream on her spoon and points it at him to make a point. "So no, I fold to no one and I-"

Willis can't help himself, he wants to make her uneasy, take her off her game. He leans forward and gently holds her hand steady as he eats the bite right off her wavering spoon. The vanilla ice cream and light hand with the chocolate sauce is an amazing combination and as he looks at her Willis is sure this is what her lips taste like.

Ariel just stares at him, mouth open mid-sentence, and he stares right back, determined not to be the one to back off first. Ariel lets go of the spoon and breaks eye contact to get another one, causing Willis to smile slyly.

Ariel sticks the spoon in her ice cream and turns around, walking out of the kitchen. "Get your own ice cream next time Outsider."

Willis pulls the spoon out of his mouth and taps it against his lips thoughtfully. He'd clearly rattled the young queen's nerve, after all, Willis is sure he wouldn't have seen the intrigue and slight fear in her eyes if he hadn't succeeded in freaking her out. He allows a big grin to spread across his face as he sets the spoon on the counter and leaves the kitchen, hands in his pockets. _You fold to no one huh? We'll just see about that._


	5. Chapter 5

Willis is woken the next morning by an insistent knocking on the door of his room. He sits up in bed and absently rubs his head, calling that the door was open. Ariel literally kicks the door open, standing regally with her hands on her hips as she gives Willis a look, Nick and Chess looking considerably weaker behind her. Willis couldn't help himself, he rather liked the show of long legs under the black and red dress she was wearing. He smiles at her. "Well good morning to you too."

"Save it Outsider," Ariel walks into the room, her cape from the day before gently flying away from her legs as she stands at the edge of his bed. "I was going to send you home today, but it seems that I need you to run an errand for me."

"What kind of errand?" Willis sits back against his pillows and acts like it's no big deal. He closes his eyes and rolls his shoulders before pointedly looking at her with an evil grin. "Need me to go pick up the next Twilight book?"

"Twilight?" Nick asks confused as he looks at Ariel. Ariel blushes a dark red color and points at Willis as she attempts to hide her embarrassment.

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! I ought to have you beheaded for talking to me like that!" Ariel folds her arms and glares at him. "No, what I have in mind for you is something far more dangerous."

Ariel leans forward and smiles just as evilly back at Willis. "I need you to take something to my sister."

"No problem."

Ariel smiles at Willis and for some reason he feels uneasy. Ariel stands tall again and starts walking out of the room. "I thought you'd say that. Tell Nichole I send my love." Ariel opens the door and leaves the room. A moment of silence passes over the three boys and Ariel pokes her head back into the room. "Oh I almost forgot. Nick I need you to stay here with me, but I'm sure Chess wouldn't mind accompanying Willis to see my elder sister."

Ariel wiggles her fingers and smiles at the boys before leaving again. Nick stares after her for a minute before turning back to the other boys with a relieved smile. "No problem. Chess knows the way to Nichole's, and after being gone so long I kind of expected to go back to my job around the castle…" Nick starts heading towards the door and Willis only just now notices that Chess is completely shell-shocked.

"Dude, are you okay?" Willis stands up and goes to the chair where he threw his shirt the night before and pulls it over his head. Chess' tail twitches slightly and Chess seems to come back into himself.

"I'm fine," he almost snaps as he looks over at Willis, something deep in his orange eyes. He glances towards Willis. "Come on, let's get going."

Chess exit's the room and Willis just stands there staring. No matter how different this Wonderland was from how he's always known it, at least Lewis got one thing right:

The madness in this place was insane.

An hour later, Willis and Chess are geared up and everyone is standing out in the garden. Willis was given different clothes to travel in: dark brown adventurers pants made of a sturdy material, a black t-shirt, light leather boots, and the coat and black scarf that he was keeping in his bag. Chess was still dressed like himself, just a few less rips in his jeans and he was now in a long sleeved shirt.

"It's very important that the bottle stay in mint condition," Ariel warns as Willis puts the large, colorful, and surprisingly light, bottle in his bag. Ariel puts one hand on her hip and for a minute looks concerned. "That bottle is more important than your life Outsider. Be very careful, Wonderland is not a forgiving place."

Willis flashes a smile at her. "Your concern is cute, but you have nothing to worry about."

Ariel rolls her eyes but Willis sees the ghost of a smile in the corner of her lips. "You won't be saying that when you wander into a patch of Momewraths." Ariel looks at Willis for a minute before pulling a string off from around her neck and holding it up for him to see. The deep red uncut stone has a rugged and magical feel to it as Ariel puts it around Willis' neck. "Girly cliché or not, the RoseRed Stone has protected it's bearers since its discovery. Lose it and it's off with your head."

"Yes ma'am." Willis slips the jewel under his shirt and salutes the queen as she takes a step back. She smiles at him amused and Willis almost feels the stone warm his skin. Nick steps up beside Ariel and they share a look before turning back to the departing boys. Nick holds out a scroll to Willis. "After you visit Nichole, drop this off at Rose Mansion."

"Awe come on," Chess whines as Willis takes the scroll and puts it in his bag. "Tanner's a complete ass, not to mention the crazy siblings they worship the ground he walks on."

"You don't have to stay there," Ariel says, brushing him off. "And Tanner won't dare harm you if he knows you're there because I told you to be. Not quit whining and get going already. If Cole doesn't get that bottle soon you know what's gonna happen."

Chess and Nick shudder and Willis follows Chess towards the gate. Chess opens the gate and heads out into Wonderland and, with one final glance back and a thumbs-up at those staying behind, Willis embarks on his mission.


	6. Chapter 6

"Seriously, how far away does she live?" Willis and Chess have been walking around the overgrown, monster infested Wonderland for what seems like hours and Willis has absolutely no idea where he is. He's just blindly following Chess around the forest and frankly, Chess could be leading him into a trap. It honestly wouldn't surprise him.

"Will you shut up?" Chess snaps, jumping up onto a large rock and glaring at his companion. "It shouldn't be too much farther. Cole doesn't live too far away from Castle Crimson."

"Yeah that's what you said two hours ago…" Willis mumbles but continues to follow the sarcastic and lithe cat through the dense forest that seems to be getting foggier by the second. Willis watches as Chess jumps from rock to rock with grace and silently wishes for him to fall flat on his face.

"Come on slow poke," Chess calls as he stands in front of some rather evil looking trees. Willis catches up and levels his summer blues at Chess, who just smirks. "This way Outsider."

"Will you stop calling me that?" Willis asks as he follows the other boy through the darkened glen. "I have a name you know."

"Name? I have a name too!"

Willis stops in his tracks and glances around the glen for the disembodied voice, but all he sees is a really big red and green mushroom that seems to be the source of all the fog.

"Hey…What was tha-" Willis stops mid-sentence as he turns towards Chess and sees a rather attractive but clearly insane short-haired brunette hanging all over Chess. Her lightly tanned skin is pale in comparison to her black attire and her antennae twitch every so often, which kind of freaks Willis out. Her green-brown eyes are glazed over, her right eye mostly hidden by her bangs, and the grin she's giving him would have her locked up in any loony-bin back in the real world in five seconds flat.

"Hey. Hi there. Who're you? Are you a bird? Can you fly?" The questions just stream out of her mouth without much pause between them and her monarch butterfly wings flutter behind her as she leans over Chess more, nearly pushing him over in her enthusiasm. "I can fly. See?"

The girl floats into the air and flies over to Willis, getting right up in his face and staring at him. "Chester? Who's your friend? I've never seen him before. He doesn't look like a lizard at all."

"Willis, this is Nichole." Chess steps forward and gently pulls the deranged girl away from Willis' face. "Nichole, why don't you go make some tea?"

"Tea? I love tea! Tanner loves tea more than I do though. Ariel hates it but Haley really likes it too and that's why…" The butterfly-girl's voice trails off as she opens a door at the base of the giant shroom and goes inside, leaving the two boys outside. Willis is just awestruck.

"I thought we were supposed to be visiting the White Queen?" Willis asks as Chess looks away from the mushroom.

"No, we're visiting Nichole. Don't you ever listen?"

"But how can that be Ariel's sister if she's not the White Queen?"

"Have you learned anything at all? Just because you expect things to be a certain way doesn't mean they're going to be." Chess folds his arms and rolls his glowing orange eyes at the normal boy. "There are three sisters: Ariel, Haley and Nichole. Ariel is the youngest and the Red Queen in Castle Crimson. Haley is the eldest sister and the White Queen in the Ivory Tower. And Nichole here…Well…"

They hear a crash and maniacal laughter coming from the mushroom, Nichole is clearly having a wonderfully rough time in there on her own. Chess gets a kind of far away look on his face that Willis can't quite place before speaking again. "Nichole is our resident caterpillar-turned-butterfly."

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second here." Willis attempts to wrap his head around the truth before him. "If Ariel is the youngest, then why does she have the throne? Shouldn't that be Haley's?"

"Haley is too shy and mild-mannered. People would walk all over her. She's a strong girl, but not a leader so she deserted Castle Crimson, leaving Nichole and Ariel. Nichole was next in line for the throne but with her… condition…"

Willis just holds up a hand and nods as something glass smashes in Nichole's house and they listen to see if she's hurt, but she just goes right back to her antics so Chess continues. "So Nichole left the castle as well, being unable to take care of her baby sister. Ariel's been running Wonderland since she was ten years old. Her sisters kind of just dropped it into her lap."

"Ariel…" Willis glances back in the direction they came, feeling even more like an ass for how he spoke to her. Chess just watches him for a while before smiling and clapping a hand on Willis' shoulder.

"Come on, before Nichole breaks anything else."

The two boys walk towards the mushroom, one looking forward and the other looking back.


End file.
